Fun family activities & places to be with our kids in Singapore & beyond (plus the occasional mommy rantings!)

Is Sentosa 4D Adventureland for your kid?

The four attractions at Sentosa 4D Adventureland in Singapore are novel, exciting and bound to thrill both kids and adults.

We’ve past by signs of Sentosa’s 4D Adventureland every time we are on the island and it feels like the attraction’s been around for the longest time, but it has never really quite attracted us to have a go. But after chancing upon a promotion, we decided to make a long overdue visit to the attraction.

There are basically four rides at #4DAdventureland – Extreme Log Ride, Haunted Mine Ride, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and Desperados. A minimum age of three years old is required for the rides and a minimum height of 90 cm for the first three rides and 110 cm for the latter.

Before we went, I had some qualms on whether this is something suitable for my kids. Much as Big E and Little E are nine and seven respectively, they do not have the stomachs for scary thrill rides. And as we found out, not all the rides were suitable for our girls, much as hubby and I really enjoyed them!

Extreme Log Ride and Haunted Mine Ride

In the Extreme Log Ride, you follow the journey of a log through the rivers of fantasy land Himalazon - a blend of the Himalayas and the Amazon, while the Haunted Mine Ride is a roller-coaster ride through an abandoned mine.

Both of these rides are 15-minute each and take place separately at the same location which has nine cabins that can sit six each. The cabins move with the action on the screen and the rides are pretty much like thrill rides where the 4D effect makes you feel as if you are really there hurtling down slopes and falling off cliffs.

In our cabin

Our whole family enjoyed these rides and it wasn’t too scary for our girls. Initially Little E was a bit nervous and only dared to sit at the second row of the cabin (but mind you if someone tall sits in front of them, much of their view will be blocked as the front and second row of the cabin are level!). But after getting used to the rides, our kids went for a few more times on them. There is nothing really scary for these two except for the Haunted Mine Ride, there are a few scenes of corpses (not very clear ones though!) hanging and inside cages. But honestly, my kids say they didn’t even notice them at all!

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

This 20-minutes show features parts of the movie Journey 2: The Mysterious Island starring The Rock. Seats are basically like those in a movie cinema only that you get to experience the movie 4D with effects of wind and water.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 4D Adventureland ride

Hubby and I quite enjoyed the ride as the 4D movies we had been to were mostly those of animated shows, hence this was quite a refreshing change. The effects made it very immersive and exciting. Perhaps the only thing I didn’t like was that because chairs are rooted to the ground, when there is supposed to be some ‘violent’ shake, its just your backrest moving, which doesn’t feel realistic but annoying instead as it felt like someone is kicking your backrest.

Our kids, however, didn’t like this at all as it was a little too realistic for them. 4D animated shows are okay for them but this felt too real-life for them given creepy scary giant insects and animals. The effects of lightning and loud sounds also scared them quite a bit. Needless to say, they refused to go back for this again. So, if you have kids who do not have the stomach for more realistic thrill rides, might want to skip this one.

Desperados

This is a 10-minute ride where you sit on a moving horse riding through a western town holding a gun to shoot at outlaws. Each seat is numbered and scores are tallied and shown at the end of the ride. So you’ll know where you stand in terms of your shooting accuracy.

The ride is pretty novel but for an adult, the gun did feel a bit heavy to keep holding up for ten minutes, let alone for kids. But our kids still had fun despite not having very good aims (haha). But Mama did came up as a top three shooter within the room each time we went for it. Hoho!

If your kids are the more gutsy sort, the entire family will be able to make the most of their tickets [if you buy the 4-in-1 combo tickets, you'll get unlimited rides] by going for a number of times on all the rides. Though our kids didn't like Journey 2, they really enjoyed the Extreme Log Ride and Haunted Mine Ride which we went on for quite a number of times. That made our tickets pretty worthwhile already!

Bonus tips for your trip:

- The four-in-one combo ticket will give you access to the four shows at $39.90 per adult and $29.90 per child, and unlimited rides throughout the day. There are often promotions by NTUC and Passion Card, hence you might want to check for discounts before purchasing at the counter.

- One thing we really like is that the four rides are operating simultaneously such that when one ride ends, you just head on to the queue for another ride, meaning you need not wait too long for the rides. We were there on a weekday during school holidays and it was not very crowded such that we are able to enter the attraction each time we queue (each ride has its own maximum capacity).

- The attractions are all sheltered which means you can go during a rainy day but moving from the Extreme Log Ride/Desperado area to the Journey 2 cinema, the short walk of less than a minute is not sheltered.

- Sentosa 4D Adventureland is located at Imbiah Lookout of Sentosa. The Skyline Luge and cable car station are also located nearby hence you could enjoy other attractions at Sentosa, then head back to Adventureland again if you purchased 4-in-1 combo tickets with unlimited access.

Find Sentosa 4D Adventureland at 51B Imbiah Road, on Sentosa Island. Drop at Imbiah Lookout when using the Sentosa feeder bus. Opening hours are at 10am-730pm from Sundays till Thurdays, and 10am–9pm from Fridays till Saturdays and during eve of public holidays and public holidays.

Disclaimer: We paid for our tickets, and my opinions and reviews here are strictly my and my family’s own.